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The microwave is a time machine. Okarin proved it. The self-anointed mad scientist nuked bananas into some gelatinous version of the future. Or maybe it was the past. Doesn't matter. No one thought he could do it, but he did it anyway. He sent text messages through time to people he knew. To his friends. Some of them female. Pretty. He should have been more careful. He should have stopped. Tampering with the time-space continuum attracts unwelcome attention. Clandestine organizations of nefarious origins take notice. SERN. Always watching. Okarin knows; he can feel their eyes. That s why he started the top secret Future Gadget Lab. To stop them. You should join. We get to wear lab coats, and it's dangerous. Danger is exciting because it's deadly. The microwave is a time machine.

Steins;Gate is a surreal viewing experience that s an absolute must watch for all fans of sci-fi. According to Anime Vice, ''It's like somebody taped an episode of The Big Bang Theory over a copy of Donnie Darko.''

Amazon.com

The offbeat sci-fi adventure Steins;Gate (2011) has a rambunctious energy that recalls The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. When college student and self-proclaimed "mad scientist" Rintaro Okabe declares, "Working hypothesis: Reality and my brain are at odds," he's making a rare understatement. Or is he? Like Suzumiya, Okabe looks for things outside the boundaries of normal life; and like Suzumiya, he unwittingly stumbles onto them. He's convinced that a sinister organization linked to the cutting-edge physics research center SERN is pursuing him, and decries their menace into his cell phone--when it's not turned on. Okabe may sound nuttier than a squirrel's IRA, but it would be a mistake to dismiss him as a lunatic. He's smart enough to investigate the possibilities of time travel and charming enough to attract an eccentric group of friends to aid in his research: gentle Cosplay expert Mayuri, genius Makise, über-hacker/nerd "Daru" Hashida, techno-warrior Suzuha, and Moeka, who never speaks when she can text. A jerry-rigged contraption involving an old microwave, a cell phone, and a large-screen TV enables the members of Okabe's secret lab to send messages back in time. Some of the messages change the past in ways that alter the present. No one remembers how things were previously except Okabe: Even when the anime and manga stores vanish from their Akihabara neighborhood, only he notices the difference. Mysterious time-traveler John Titor texts that Okabe may be the savior who can prevent a future dystopia, but messages from SERN warn that he knows too much already. An intriguing blend of adventure, mystery, and slapstick, Steins;Gate will delight otaku who have wearied of formulaic sci-fi. Like Okabe's friends, the viewer never knows what's going to happen next (or what happened before). A Steins;Gate theatrical feature is slated for release in Japan in fall 2012. (Rated TV 14: violence, violence against women, grotesque imagery, risqué humor, brief nudity) --Charles Solomon

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

As I write this, there have been 5 reviews posted on Amazon. They have refrained from spoiling much of the plot, and I won't either. So far no one has really commented on the scientific knowledge base referenced in the series, so I thought I'd share that.

Steins;Gate falls into a relatively small genre of anime where many of the plot points are adaptations of some field of science, in this case "chaos theory." Other examples are Noein which is based on quantum mechanic philosophies, and Serial Experiments Lain which is based on artificial intelligence. About half of the titles of Steins;Gate episodes are direct references to concepts in chaos theory, most importantly the "butterfly effect." The butterfly effect quips that a butterfly flapping its wings in Texas can cause a typhoon 2 weeks later in Tokyo. That is the premise of the show, that by sending 18 character text messages into the past one can dramatically shift the future.

It's hard to go into particulars without giving some plot points away, but idea of a (strange) "attractor" also plays a key role in the story. Namely, no matter how much you perturb the timeline, some events seemingly cannot be escaped. Much of the plot revolves around the main characters' repeated efforts to avert those destinies, and much of the character development comes from the anguish of not being able to do so. The story also contains passing references to divergence, singularities, fractals, homeostasis...

Finally, let me applaud the writers for having a very realistic time-machine concept. Most stories have time-machines immediately invented that are capable of transporting humans through time. In Steins;Gate, the first time machine can only transmit data, and only 18 characters worth of it.Read more ›

Rintaro Okabe considers himself a mad scientist. He spends most of his time inventing useless gadgets and conceiving wild conspiracy theories. Through sheer luck, he and his friend Itaru Hashida actually create a machine that can send text messages to the past. Through their experimentation and tinkering with time, they keep changing their world, though only Okabe is able to remember the previous timeline. But playing around with something like time is bound to have consequences, as Okabe finds out all too well.....

I generally don't have much interest in time travel stories. But if the premise sounds interesting, I'll give it a try. The premise of Steins;Gate sounded vaguely entertaining, but I might not have tried it if it hadn't been streaming on Crunchyroll and had high ratings on AnimeNewsNetwork. The first few episodes were fun, but I wasn't really hooked until around 8 episodes in. That is where the story really starts. And boy, it doesn't let up until the end! The story it very intense and fast paced. It was a rather surprising change, after the laid-back, comedic first few episodes. I went from wanting to see more, to NEEDING to see more. In addition to a great story, this series also has great characters. Okabe is the most interesting, and most developed, since he is the main character, but the others each have their chance to shine.

This is one of the best anime series I've see in a while. Possibly the best Sci-Fi anime I've EVER seen. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys an exciting and well woven story. Anyone who enjoys stories that make them think a little. Stories that have wacky characters that you come to love, science fiction, thrill, or mystery.Read more ›

Steins; Gate is a truly original Anime. OK, no story is ever TRULY original now, I know, but the mix included here is.

The first bunch of episodes are happy go lucky, in a fun sort of way. Okabe is a mad scientist trying to build a time machine to fight against the "establishment." Along for the ride are his friends Mayuri and Haru. When he finds a dead girl at a convention, only to later that day be told he never went to the convention, we realize something is going on. Then when he meets the same girl at a different lecture, we know for sure something's up. As the story progresses we add more female characters (it's not a harem show, I promise!) and a LOT more drama. And they change the past (well, change the past, that changes the future...) with a MICROWAVE and email/text messages!

By the end of the first part of Steins; Gate things have gone terribly wrong, with Okabe fighting to retain his sanity and save dear friend.

Based on a "graphic novel" for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC (Japanese only), the game was originally designed by Nitro+ and 5pb as a 99% science, 1% fantasy game. It's not difficult to see why they called it so. For those craving the game, JAST USA has announced that, through their partnership with Nitro+, they will be releasing an English localized version of the game on PC eventually.

I am reviewing everything below based on the Blu Ray edition of the set. I have not powered up the DVDs and have no need to do so.

Video:

AVC encoded at 1080p. Bit rates in the 20-32 range mean there is no compression blocking or issues. The only video concern I have is gradients. Sometimes the gradients used have harsh transitions. This is, however, part of the show and NOT a problem with the encode.Read more ›

Forums

Skipped on Fractale for now (how is that by the way), and I'm big on Blu Ray so I'm also waiting for Panty & Stocking to hit Blu and for Persona 4 to drop in price and to perhaps get a re-release due to cutting the sub track. Since I haven't been watching the MOST recent releases of anime, I... Read More